(A/N: I'm actually doing quite a bit of research for this story. Not just about the series itself with interviews from the writer and character profile and psychological studies to better understand them, but also with events of the story, like with the meaning of the roses last chapter and bowling for this chapter; you'll see what I mean when we get to that part. But what can I say, when I become dedicated to a story, I really go all out. So, based on how last chapter ended and the title of this chapter, it's fairly obvious that this chapter will be about Juri and Shiori's first date. Let's see how that goes.)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 5: Date
Shiori couldn't hold back the small cry of excitement that escaped her as she watched Juri get yet another strike. The orange-haired girl really was rather good, but Shiori didn't know why that surprised her; it seemed that she was good at everything she did.
As for Shiori, when it came to bowling, she was average at best, maybe mediocre, for a casual bowler anyway. The sport wasn't exactly her forte, and she had only played a handful of times in her life. Not like Juri who played regularly. They were only playing for fun though, not to compete, as if Shiori would have even stood a chance if they did.
Shiori didn't know how she did it, but Juri had indeed managed to get permission to leave the school grounds for a few hours, provided they returned on time. Just a perk of being on the Student Council she supposed.
They'd left the school together and Juri had driven them into town. There, they had made their way to one of the local bowling alleys to play a few games. Currently, they were on their third game, and, predictably, Juri had won both previous games and was now dominating this one as well. Or at least that would have been the case if they were playing against each other, but instead were simply trying to beat their own score from the previous game.
Heading back from the lane, Juri took a seat beside Shiori. "You're up."
Smiling bashfully, the violet-haired girl got up. Unlike Juri, she didn't have a ball of her own and had to use one of the ones available to rent. She selected the one she had been using thus far and turned to the lane. As she did so, she heard a wolf-whistle from behind her.
Frowning, she glanced over her shoulder to see three boys watching just past their area. They had been watching for some time now, Juri's skills having drawn the attention of a few bystanders, but this was the first time they had made such a noise other than clapping or cheering when Juri got a strike or a spare.
Speaking of Juri, she briefly glanced at the three boys as well, and a small scowl crossed her face. Shiori wasn't sure if it was because they had wolf-whistled in general or because they had wolf-whistled at her specifically. Either way, Juri apparently hadn't liked it. And while it didn't really bother Shiori, who chose to look at the whistle as a compliment, the thought of Juri getting offended on her behalf set her heart racing.
Turning back to the lane, she took a deep breath. With a bit of a running start, she tossed the ball and watched as it rushed down the lane to knock over three pins. It was a normal amount for her, and when she followed up with her second ball, she knocked over two more.
With a low, disappointed grumble, she went back and took her seat. Juri gave her an amused smile and placed a reassuring hand on her knee. "Don't be discouraged. You're doing well for a casual player."
"Not even that," the violet-haired girl replied irritably. "I could probably count on two hands the number of times I've been bowling. At most, maybe a little over a dozen times. Meanwhile, you're getting strikes most of the time, and when you don't, you get spares more often than not."
Juri chuckled. "I've been bowling a long time, so naturally I'm going to be a little more skilled."
"Like in everything," Shiori muttered under her breath.
But Juri still heard, and it made her frown. "Hey, Shiori, this isn't a competition. We're just playing for fun."
A deep sigh escaped Shiori and she buried her face in her hands. "You're right. You're right. I'm sorry. It's just… seeing you be so good at everything while I…"
The hand on her leg gave her an encouraging squeeze as Juri smiled at her reassuringly. "Practice makes perfect, Shiori. You'll get better at whatever you practice. I didn't just start out good, you know; it took time and practice. And besides, there are plenty of things that I'm not good at."
"Doesn't seem like it," Shiori grumbled.
Juri frowned again, but then stood up. "Here, watch me this time. Form is a big part of it. Watch how I move my arm, watch how I step, and look at my stance."
She went to retrieve her ball and then stepped up to the lane. Shiori observed her as she said while trying to shake off the feeling of inferiority. Logically, she knew it wasn't true, but it really did feel like Juri was amazing at everything she did, while she on the other hand was usually average, maybe above average, at best. How could she not feel inferior when standing next to a shining star like Juri all the time?
Pushing such unpleasant thoughts aside, knowing that they had been what had led her down a dark path in the first place, she did as the orange-haired girl asked and studied her form. She took in her stance, the way she stood, how she held the ball and carefully lined it up. She observed the way she moved, the step she took, and the swing of her arm before releasing the ball and sending it flying down the lane.
Pins went flying, and Shiori saw that Juri had knocked over all but three of them. She also noticed that her heart was racing in excitement, and she tried to figure out when and why that had started. All she'd been doing was watching Juri bowl; she'd done that before, several times.
A whistle behind her drew her attention. It had come from the same group of three boys, only this hadn't been a wolf-whistle, but an impressed one. Not that Shiori could blame them. Juri may not have gotten a strike this time, but she was still undoubtedly impressive.
"The girl is good," one of them said. "You think she plays in a league?"
"Doubt it," another replied. "I haven't seen her around here before. Wonder how she got so good."
"I wonder what else she's good at," the third boy said, his tone leaving no room for doubt as to what he was referring to. "A girl as hot as her, she's bound to know her way around the bedroom."
One of the others snickered. "You going to try and find out?"
"You know it."
Shiori's nails dug into her palms as she listened to them. It was obvious that they didn't know she could hear them. Their words though sent a wave of possessive jealousy through Shiori, and she was suddenly overcome with the urge to tell them that Juri was here with her. The blatant talk of wanting sex didn't really bother her, boys would be boys after all, but the fact that they were directing those desires at Juri made Shiori want to run over to her and latch onto her arm.
"You aim too high," she heard one of the other boys reply. "That girl is way out of your league. She'd never go for guys like us." There was a moment's pause before he continued. "Her friend is really cute too though. I'll bet one of us could pick her up."
Another pause, and then one of the other boys spoke again. "Yeah, she is pretty cute. And maybe if we get her to hang out with us, her friend will want to hang with us too."
So they were talking about her now. And they thought she was cute. The compliment, however, was doing nothing to flatter her. She was still seething over their blatant desire for Juri, and her jealousy had nothing to do with them obviously preferring the orange-haired girl over her.
"Shiori."
She blinked, coming out of her thoughts, and looked up to see the girl in question standing over her. "Huh?"
"I said it's your turn."
She blinked again and looked to the bowling lane to see that the pins had been reset. She'd been so distracted that she hadn't even realized that Juri had gone her second time.
"Right," she said, unclenching her hands, her nails leaving little red quarter-moon marks in her palms.
Ignoring the stinging sensation she herself had inflicted, she went to retrieve her ball, trying to stave off the unreasonable frustration she was feeling. With a huff, she picked up her ball and stepped up to the lane, taking aim. She took a calming breath and tossed the ball, watching as it sped down the lane.
It wasn't even close. The ball had rolled into the gutter before it was even halfway down the lane. Shiori let out a frustrated groan, but it wasn't really her failure that had her angry. She waited for her ball to come back and then got back into position.
Taking a few more deep breaths, she pushed these feelings aside, but still found herself feeling distracted, and it resulted in her only knocking down a single pin. She stomped her foot angrily, but once again, it wasn't due to her failure.
There was a chuckle from behind her, and she turned to see Juri coming up to her. "That doesn't look like you were paying attention."
She said it in a playful manner and Shiori felt herself relaxing. "I was. I just got…" she averted her eyes, "distracted…"
Juri cocked her head to the side, but then smiled. She went to the ball return system, but when she came back, she was holding Shiori's ball instead of her own. "Here, let me help you with your form, see if that helps."
She handed Shiori the ball, who glanced down at it, then looked back at her. "But it's your turn."
Juri just shook her head. "It's fine, just go."
"But it'll mess up your score," Shiori protested as Juri turned her around.
She smiled as she gave the violet-haired girl a small push towards the lane. "I said it's ok. Now come on, stand here."
She maneuvered Shiori into place, coming up close behind her. Shiori felt a blush fill her face as she felt Juri press up against her. Her chin gently rested on Shiori's shoulder as she reached around her, placing her hands over Shiori's to get her hands in the right position.
"Ok," she said, her breath tickling Shiori's ear as she softly spoke into it, "you want to throw from the foul line, so you should start right about here."
More heat filled Shiori's cheeks as Juri brought her right up to the foul line. Shiori looked down to see that her feet were only a couple of inches away from the red line. "I-Isn't this kind of close?"
She'd meant to the foul line, but for some reason, her own words sounded as if they were in reference to something else. She wondered if Juri was misinterpreting her words as such when she heard the orange-haired girl chuckle in her ear. "We're still getting into position. It's best to start at the foul line and then take five steps back to get the best distance for you."
With that, Juri walked them backwards five steps. Shiori's heart began racing as she allowed Juri to move her. She had never been this bold with her before, and Shiori herself had never felt so… timid? Was that the right word for how she was feeling?
"Next," Juri practically purred in her ear, "you want to set your feet. This is more of a personal preference, but you should use the dots on the floor to guide your feet. For now, let's try it like this."
Shiori's breath hitched as she felt Juri slip a foot between her legs. She did her best to keep her breathing even as the orange-haired girl used her foot to push hers into place.
"Left foot, center dot. Keep your other foot a little behind it and about two inches apart. Good, just like that. Now we'll get your body into position. But first, let's get you to hold the ball properly. Insert your fingers into the holes."
Placing one hand under the bowling ball, she covered Shiori's right hand with her own and moved it so she could put her fingers in the three holes. Once Shiori had her hands in place and her fingers inserted, she pulled her own back. Unfortunately, Shiori's hold on the ball had gone slack, and when Juri removed her hands, the ball fell and landed heavily on the ground with a loud bang.
"Shiori!" Juri exclaimed worriedly. "Are you ok? That didn't fall on your foot, did it?"
Red in the face from both blushing and embarrassment, Shiori shook her head. "No, it missed."
Juri visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'm sorry, I thought you had a hold of it."
"Oh, I do!" Shiori declared a little too loudly, and quickly picked up the ball. "See."
Juri nodded. "Ok then. Are you ready to continue?"
Shiori nodded and got back into position. "Yes. So, what's next?"
Juri approached, but instead got in front of her, and not as close as before. "Keep the ball about waist height, never lower than that, or above your shoulders. Relax your stance and bend your knees slightly."
Reaching out, she adjusted the violet-haired girl's arms and applied light pressure to her shoulders until Shiori bent her knees a bit. Once she was satisfied with the stance, Juri moved next to her and pointed at the pins. "Keep your head straight and eyes forward. Don't take them off your target."
Locking her eyes onto the pins, Shiori nodded. "Ok. And now I just throw it?"
Juri smiled. "Not quite. You have to decide the kind of throw you want to do."
Shiori gave her a confused look. "What kind?"
"Never mind. Just go with what you've been doing so far with the throwing." She took Shiori's arms and stretched them out. "Arm straight, start to step forward, and swing towards your ankle on the third step. Bring your arm up and release. Now try it."
She stepped out of the way, giving the violet-haired girl the space she needed. Shiori took a deep breath, keeping her eyes on the pins. Following Juri's instructions, she moved as she was told and threw the ball, noticing the difference compared to how she had been bowling before. The ball rolled down the lane and struck the center pin, sending it and others flying. Shiori beamed happily as she saw the pins go down, but then her smile immediately left her face as she saw what remained.
"Oh no, not that!" she cried in dismay.
Juri came up next to her, smiling proudly. "What's wrong? You did good. That was the most you've gotten yet."
Shiori frowned at her. "Yeah, but… look!"
She motioned to the remaining pins. All but two had been knocked down, and the remaining two just so happened to be the seven and the ten.
"It's a seven-ten split," she complained. "All that just to get stuck with the hardest one to bowl."
Juri just chuckled, her eyes dancing in amusement. "Actually, contrary to the cliché, the seven-ten split isn't the hardest, it just looks like it is, so it's just in movies and such."
Frowning, Shiori looked back at the two pins. "The seven-ten isn't the hardest?"
Juri shook her head. "No, but it is very difficult to get. There's only a 0.7 percent chance of knocking both of them over. But there are actually two others that are more difficult."
Glancing back at her, Shiori gave the orange-haired girl a curious look. "So what's the hardest?"
Crossing her arms, Juri appeared to be staring down the two pins. "That would be what's called the 'Greek Church'."
"Ok… and that is?"
"The four, six, seven, nine, and ten. There's only a 0.3 percent chance of knocking them all down."
Shiori blinked in surprise. "Really? I would have thought that it would be the one-seven-ten. But doesn't having more pins up make it more likely that they'll knock over the others when the ball hits them."
Smiling, Juri turned to her. "Yes, one would probably think that." She motioned to the pins. "Care to try?"
Shiori's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No way. I'll definitely get a gutter ball if I try." She shyly averted her eyes. "Besides, it's supposed to be your turn."
Chuckling, Juri headed back over to get her ball. "Well, I can give it a shot. I might be able to knock over one of them."
"You can do it!" Shiori told her encouragingly.
She stepped aside to give her room. Juri flashed her a smile and took up her position. She lined up the ball, took a few steps forward, and let it roll. Both girls watched as the ball shot down the lane and struck the ten on the right side. It was successfully knocked over, and got sent tumbling into the seven, bouncing off it. The two girls watched as the seven wobbled for a bit, and after a second or two, it too toppled over.
Releasing the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Shiori uncrossed her fingers and threw herself at Juri, wrapping her arms around her. "You did it! I knew you could!"
A laugh escaped Juri as she wrapped her arms around the violet-haired girl and spun her around. "That makes one of us."
Shiori shook her head. "No, I didn't have a doubt. It's like you can do anything."
The smile slowly fell away from Juri's face and she set her down. "I wish that were the case."
At those words, the smile left Shiori's face too. Suddenly, the situation became awkward. Less pleasant memories began to creep up along with reminders of mistakes they'd both made in the past. Even though they had decided to bury the hatchet, there was still much guilt and many regrets they held on to, and it looked as if it might still be a while before they would be able to completely get over them.
But then the awkwardness began to be replaced by something else as Shiori suddenly became aware of just how close they were. Juri may have set her down, but her hands were still on her waist, and Shiori's own hands were still resting on Juri's shoulders. For some reason though, Shiori didn't want to move away, nor did Juri seem to want to let her go, and Shiori gripped the orange-haired girl's shirt.
"Juri," she said quietly, averting her eyes with a blush, "uh…"
"Hey, that was a really great shot," a voice interrupted.
The moment ended and both girls turned to see that the boys who had been watching them bowl approaching. Shiori glanced at Juri, knowing that she hadn't heard what the boys had been saying about them; unless they had said more while she had been bowling and Juri had overheard. She saw the briefest of frowns cross the orange-haired girl's face before she put on a polite smile and released her, turning to the boys. Shiori instantly missed the feel of her hands on her.
"Thank you," Juri said pleasantly. "I wasn't sure I could get it."
The boy who had spoken chuckled. "Your friend sure had faith in you. I can understand why; you're really quite good."
Juri nodded in acknowledgment of the compliment. "I appreciate it. I've been bowling for years."
"We can tell. By the way, my name is Mamoru, and these two are Seiji and Yamada."
Once again, Juri nodded, this time in greeting. "Nice to meet you. I'm Juri, and this is… Shiori."
The violet-haired girl glanced at her. She'd heard her hesitate just before saying her name. Had she been about to introduce her as someone before deciding not to? As what? Her friend? Her girlfriend?
"The pleasure is ours," the boy named Yamada replied.
"Do you play professionally?" Seiji asked. "With those skills, I bet you do."
But Juri just smiled and shook her head. "No, it's just a hobby."
"She fences professionally though," Shiori chimed in, not liking how the boys only seemed to be addressing Juri. "She's actually the captain of our school's fencing club. I'm a member too."
It was with some satisfaction that the three boys turned their attention to her. Good, she didn't like their attention being just on Juri. It was making her feel jealous. But, strangely, it wasn't the usual jealousy she felt. She wasn't jealous of Juri this time. Rather, she was jealous of… she wasn't sure what exactly.
"Fencing?" Yamada said in surprise. "That's pretty cool What school do you go to?"
"Yeah, we haven't seen either of you before," Mamoru commented. "I'd remember if we did."
Juri shook her head. "No, we don't come to town often. We attend Ohtori Academy. It's a year-round school."
This clearly surprised all three boys based on the way their eyes widened. "Ohtori Academy?" Seiji exclaimed. "That fancy school for the rich and elite?"
"That's the one. We got permission to come to town for a few hours."
She saw something register in Mamoru's eyes, as if he were a hungry dog who had just found a juicy bone. "A few hours, huh? In that case, how would you like to hang out with us for a while? We could show you how to have some real fun."
Shiori frowned. She immediately knew the kind of 'fun' he was referring to, and she wasn't interested. Nor was Juri, she knew that much for a fact. For some reason though, Shiori suddenly felt the need to touch Juri, and she extended her pinky finger, letting it graze against the orange-haired girl's. At the contact, she immediately felt Juri curl her little finger around hers.
"Thanks for the offer," Juri told them, "but no thanks."
Despite her refusal, the smile on Mamoru's face just grew larger, as if this were some kind of fun game he was enjoying. "You sure? We could show you some really fun places."
"We're really not interested," Juri replied. "We just came out to spend some time together, just the two of us. Right, Shiori?"
The violet-haired girl nodded. "Yes, that's right."
"But the more the merrier." He wrapped his arms around his friends' shoulders. "Right, boys?"
Seiji nodded and Yamada gave a thumbs-up. "Yeah, come hang with us," the latter insisted.
Juri still maintained her polite smile, but now Shiori saw her eyes harden in annoyance. "We said no. We'd just like to be left alone. So please leave."
Mamoru just laughed. "Ah, come on. We don't seem so scary, do we? And aren't you girls in the fencing club? You're not afraid of us, are you? We promise not to do anything you don't want."
Shiori's pinky finger wrapped tighter around Juri's. No, she wasn't afraid or even feeling intimidated by these boys, but they were being annoying nuisances with their insistence. She also didn't like the way Mamoru in particular was looking at Juri. It was clear what he wanted, he wasn't even trying to hide it, and it was sending a wave of possessiveness through her.
"We're not afraid," Juri insisted, and she really didn't seem to be, "but we would like to be left to our game. So for the last time, please leave us alone."
Smirking, Mamoru picked up Juri's ball from the returning mechanism. "How about a game? You girls versus us. If we win, you let us join you. I promise you won't regret it." He took a step forward. "Come on, sweetheart. I'll show you what you're missing out on at the pristine, rich kid school of yours.
Juri let out a deep sigh, and Shiori realized that she was more annoyed than she was letting on, but her patience was quickly running out. She kept her cool though holding her head up high as she stared Mamoru down.
"It seems you boys aren't getting the message," she said with a smirk on her face. "Let me spell it out for you."
She uncurled her finger from Shiori's and brought her hand up. Shiori suddenly felt her cup her chin and turn her head. Juri then turned her head as well, and before she could react, Juri leaned in and pressed her lips to hers.
Shiori's eyes widened in shock as the situation registered to her. She was kissing her. Juri was kissing her! She had been completely unprepared and was so shocked that she didn't even think to kiss her back as she stood there frozen. The feel of Juri's lips against hers sent a wave of heat through her body and a tingling sensation she felt all the way down to her toes.
The kiss only lasted a few seconds, and when Juri pulled away, she was smirking. Shiori stood there blushing as Juri turned back to the boys; all three were standing there with wide eyes and their mouths hanging open.
"Has it sunk in yet?" she asked them. "Do you understand now what I meant when I said that we're here together, or do I need to make it clearer?"
Yamada slowly pointed at them. "You mean… you two are…?"
Mamoru tsked in frustrated disappointment. "What a waste."
The smirk left Juri's face and she now scowled at him. "For you maybe." She reached out and snatched her ball from him, then grabbed Shiori's hand and gave it a tug. "Come on, Shiori. I don't feel much like bowling anymore. We can be a little earlier for our dinner reservations."
Shiori had still been rooted to the spot, but found her feet as Juri tugged her along, stopping briefly to retrieve her bowling ball bag and put her ball inside. She then pulled the violet-haired girl along as she headed for the exit.
Juri was clearly frustrated, Shiori could tell that much, but it now seemed to be over more than them having their date interrupted and the comment Mamoru had made. She seemed to want to get out of here as fast as possible, and once they were outside, she came to such a sudden stop that Shiori almost bumped into her.
Shiori just stared as Juri stood there, not saying anything. Her grip on her wrist was slowly getting tighter and tighter until it started to become painful, and Shiori began attempting to pry her hand free. "Juri, you're hurting me."
It seemed to take a few seconds for her words to get through, but once they did, Juri released her. Her hand immediately closed into a fist though as her other hand squeezed the straps of her bowling ball bag. Shiori couldn't see her face, but she knew it must be twisted with aggravation.
"Juri?" she asked carefully.
"I shouldn't have done that," the orange-haired girl said, seemingly to herself. "That was a mistake." She suddenly turned and punched the wall. "Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
Her fist hit the wall with every swear. Fearing that she would hurt herself, Shiori quickly moved to stop her. "Juri, stop!"
She grabbed the orange-haired girl's fist as she pulled it back to punch the wall again. Cradling her hand, she looked down to see that Juri had split her knuckles, though, fortunately, not to the point of making them bleed. She gently used her own hand to cover the red skin as she looked at Juri's face. The orange-haired girl's downcast eyes were narrowed and she was clenching her teeth, looking furious with herself.
"Juri, what's wrong?" she asked, wondering what had set her off so much. Surely those boys couldn't have gotten to her that much.
Letting out a frustrated sound, Juri glanced at her. "I'm sorry, Shiori. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. I lost my head."
Shiori blinked. "That's why you're so upset?"
Turning towards her fully, Juri extracted her hand from Shiori's and reached up to cup her cheek. "That wasn't how I wanted our first kiss to go. But having those boys come onto us like that, knowing what they wanted…" She shook her head. "I've been through that enough. First with Andou, then with Ruka. The thought of someone else doing that with you, it just… made me act rashly."
Shiori felt her heart racing as Juri stroked her cheek. That was what had her so upset, that she had ruined their first kiss just to make a point to those boys? For as long as Juri had said she loved her, and thus had been wanting to kiss her, Shiori supposed she could understand why she would be upset about having it gone down the way it did, especially if Juri was the kind of person who highly valued a first kiss with someone, as she knew many that did.
But then she blushed as she realized that Juri had been under the assumption that they would be kissing at all. Had she been planning to kiss her, or did she just assume it would happen? Shiori had agreed to trying to have a relationship, but she hadn't guaranteed anything. Or maybe it hadn't been so much of an assumption as it had been a hope. Either way, it posed the question, did Shiori want to kiss her? Under different circumstances, would a kiss have happened naturally?
Feeling her face begin to heat up further, she pushed the thought aside. She could worry about that later. Right now, she had to focus on the matter at hand. "I… That… It's fine. You didn't ruin…" she averted her eyes, "our first kiss. You were just… uh… sending those boys a message so they would leave us alone. We don't even need to consider it a real kiss."
Juri just continued staring at her, not taking her eyes off her lips. "Don't we?"
Her thumb went from stroking Shiori's cheek to lightly tracing her jaw before moving to graze her lips, and Shiori's breath hitched. "N-No…" she whispered.
Juri just kept staring at her, so intensely Shiori could feel her heart beating faster and faster as she began to wonder if Juri was going to kiss her again, not to send a message, but because she wanted to. But then, of course she wanted to. Who didn't want to kiss the person they loved?
Just as she was beginning to think that Juri really was going to kiss her, something else happened. Juri pulled back her hand and rotated her wrist so her sleeve slipped up over her hand. She then pressed her sleeve to Shiori's lips and used it to rub her mouth, as if she were trying to wipe away the kiss she had given her.
"Mmm!" Shiori mumbled as Juri continued to rub her mouth for the next few seconds before pulling her sleeve away. "What was that for?"
With a stubborn look on her face, Juri stepped back. "I won't have the memory of our first kiss be sullied. When I kiss you, it will be because we both want it."
And once again, Shiori felt herself blush. This new Juri really was bold. And… she kind of liked it. It was certainly making her heart race a lot. Or maybe this side of Juri was always there, hidden away along with her feelings. Or was she really just that determine to win her over that she was pulling out all the stops and not holding anything back? At this point, Shiori didn't know, but she intended to find out.
Taking a deep breath through his nose and letting it out of her mouth, Shiori regained her composure and gave her a smile. "Ok then. Officially, our first kiss hasn't happened yet. So, how about we go to dinner and forget about those dumb boys interfering with our date?"
She didn't give the orange-haired girl time to respond as she grabbed her hand and began pulling her along towards the car. But though she had said that they should forget about what had happened, Shiori didn't think she could. Because while Juri may have sent those boys a message as to why they weren't interested with that kiss, Shiori had also felt like she was sending out another message, one to the world in general.
She's mine.
(A/N: Ooh, an interesting development. Juri and Shiori have now had their first kiss. Not exactly under the best of circumstances, but they still kissed all the same. At least Juri acknowledged that she behaved inappropriately. We all can get caught up in the moment sometimes. But it didn't seem that Shiori minded too much, and their date doesn't appear to be ruined. You know, I actually did some research on bowling in preparation for this chapter, and I think it paid off since it made for some nice interaction between the two of them where Shiori is becoming more and more aware of Juri. You'll have to wait until next chapter to see how the rest of their date goes. Will they end up kissing for real by the end of it? You'll just have to wait and see.)